UPDATE: Police give Barangaroo site all clear following bomb scare

Sydney’s multi-billion-dollar Barangaroo construction site has suffered another setback with today’s bomb threat delaying work for more than a day.

Workers will not return to the site in Sydney’s CBD until tomorrow morning after police locked it down following an early morning bomb scare today.

Sniffer dogs and specialist officers from the bomb squad scoured the area around the main southern tower after a suspicious call was made about 6.30am.

Developers Lend Lease made the decision to evacuate the entire site about 8.30am, eventually moving all 1666 workers and visitors offsite by 10am.

No suspicious items were found and police left about 3pm but the delay between the hoax call and the evacuation does raise some questions, according to the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union.

“It is a bit of a concern,” NSW secretary Brian Parker said.

“There’s a duty of care – but obviously, the police have to do their job… to forensically examine the scene.”

Related Articles

A Lend Lease spokeswoman said management made the decision to evacuate the site as a precaution and kept in constant contact with police.

"Given the detailed discussions that occurred with the NSW Police over the course of the morning, our view is that this evacuation was the right thing to do, and that it occurred in an appropriate, timely and safe manner,” she said.

“We have been working closely with the NSW Police since they notified us of the bomb threat this morning - as safety is our priority, we [took] the precautionary step of evacuating the site.”

She said crews would not return to work until tomorrow, after a full safety assessment had been undertaken later today.

The bomb threat is the latest disruption for the giant construction site.

In June, the site was evacuated following a similar bomb hoax and in March a fire in one of the buildings forced a mass evacuation, with heavy smoke blanketing much of the CBD and causing major traffic delays.

The Barangaroo area is being redeveloped as a residential and retail hub, with plans for a high-rollers' casino owned by billionaire James Packer.